Hallé orchestra couple killed in avalanche

A British couple have died in an avalanche while on a walking holiday in the Pyrenees.

Michael Hall, 53, a violinist with the Hallé Orchestra, and his wife Dorothy, also 53, who played the cello in both the Hallé and BBC Philharmonic, lost their lives when they were swept away in a snowfall last Wednesday.

Michael Denton, a neighbour, said: 'You could not wish to meet nicer people. They were the most generous, kind, people who would do absolutely anything for anybody else.'

The couple, who came from Didsbury, Manchester, were staying in the Luz St Sauveur area of the Pyrenees.

Denton said: 'All the photographs in the house are of them in the mountains, of them skiing or walking. Every photograph had some sort of mountain backdrop.'